Tricia Adams Blog #2 The feast of Corpus Christi

1. What was the socio-cultural function of the feasts of Corpus Christi? How did these festivals serve as celebrations of “the body”? What socio-political groups interests were served by the festivities?

Corpus Christi was a day set aside for the host, where society celebrates the concept of Christ’s body. The function provided urban societies with a mythology and ritual for a social bond. The host (bread) was symbolic to the body of Christ, where this feast was to celebrate a time of social integration and to express a creative role of religious rite and ideology in urban societies. Literally and metaphorically the festival represented Jesus, where symbolically Jesus is giving a part of his body (the host) to all the other socio-political groups involved. The function served as a unified message to the people because this was their unity with Jesus and the performances and festivals demonstrated a solid relationship as whole with the psychosomatic body.
The socio-political groups involved in the festivities were the Gilds, where they dressed in gold uniforms. In addition, the mayor, aldermen, councilors, and other municipal officials took a prominent part in the festivities. The socio-political groups had a defined order of precedence, where the humbler crafts went first, and the wealthier or more important coming behind them. Then came the aldermen, councilors, sheriffs: the town magistracy, and last of all, the host with its attendant clergy came the mayor.
The Corpus Christi day was a celebration and a point in reference in relation to which the structure of precedence and authority in the town is visually present. This was a chance for middle classes to move up because they were able to demonstrate their abilities of performing. This also gave the middle class a chance to prove their abilities and skills of performance to the upper class. In addition, Corpus Christi was the birth of advertisement, where each Gild performed on their wagon platform, which gave them an opportunity to advertise for themselves. Therefore, the performers became known and popular throughout the function. The stories conveyed the meaning of the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, or the lives of saints. These plays were very elaborate and communal activities as they provided a place to gather as a community, a place to be seen, and a place where all classes could gather to have fun. The festivities were also focused on areas of the countryside where unison was lacking in order to gain more communitas.
Today, classes are still distinguished and noticeable in society. I think it is neat that the Corpus Christi festivals allowed the middle class to prove themselves to the upper class based on their talent, knowledge, and skill through performance. I also liked how this function gave the middle class opportunities and opened doors for them to be accepted and successful within the upper classes customs. Furthermore, these festivals allowed the people to be open minded in other regions and appreciate or learn from others talents by coming together as a whole and to create this feeling of communitas.